1. Field of the Disclosure
The present disclosure relates to a light emitting diode assembly and a liquid crystal display device including the same, and more particularly, to a light emitting diode (LED) assembly and a liquid crystal display (LCD) device including the same that improve heat-discharging properties and have a narrow bezel and a slim thickness.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
Liquid crystal display (LCD) devices are widely used as monitors of notebook computers, monitors of personal computers and televisions due to excellent reproduction of moving images and high contrast ratio. LCD devices use the optical anisotropy and polarization properties of liquid crystal molecules of a liquid crystal layer to produce an image.
An LCD device includes two substrates spaced apart from each other and facing each other as well as a liquid crystal layer interposed between the two substrates. The alignment direction of the liquid crystal molecules is controlled by varying the intensity of an electric field applied to the liquid crystal layer, and changing the transmittance of light through the liquid crystal layer.
The LCD devices require an additional light source because the LCD devices are not self-luminescent. Therefore, a backlight unit is disposed at a rear side of a liquid crystal (LC) panel and emits light into the LC panel to display images.
Backlight units are in general classified as edge type or direct type according to the position of the light source with respect to an LC panel. In edge-type backlight units, a light guide plate is disposed under the LC panel, and one or a pair of lamps are disposed at one side or at each of two sides of the light guide plate. Light from the lamps is refracted and reflected by the light guide plate to be indirectly provided to the LC panel. In direct-type backlight units, a plurality of lamps is disposed directly under the LC panel, and light from the lamps is directly provided to the LC panel.
Backlight units include cold cathode fluorescent lamps (CCFLs), external electrode fluorescent lamps (EEFLs), and light emitting diodes (LEDs) as a light source. Among these, LEDs have been widely used due to their small sizes, low power consumption, and high reliability.
The LEDs are mounted on a printed circuit board and spaced apart from each other, thereby forming an LED assembly.
Recently, LCD devices have been widely used for display devices and have been required to have high brightness in addition to light weight, a thin thickness and a narrow bezel.
At this time, the LCD device may have high brightness by increasing the number of LEDs. However, since a length of the printed circuit board and a distance between the LEDs are fixed, there is a restriction on an increase of the LEDs.
In addition, the number of LEDs should increase minimizing the distance between the LEDs in the fixed area, and thus heat generated from the LEDs increases. Accordingly, when the heat is not properly discharged, there may be problems of degrading the LEDs, lowering the light efficiency and shortening the lifetime of the LEDs.